DOMA ruling ramifications land in Montgomery County

The Supreme Courtís decision to overturn a key aspect of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is having repercussions throughout communities in the U.S.

On Wednesday, the spotlight of those repercussions shone on Montgomery County, where a Limerick couple became the first same-sex couple granted a marriage license and married in Pennsylvania.

Alicia Terrizzi and Loreen Bloodgood, of Limerick, were married at 10:45 Wednesday morning by a Lansdale non-denominational minister and officiant they found on the Internet. The couple went into the Norristown courthouse at 8 this morning to acquire their license.

The chain of events leading to the first same-sex marriage license being granted began on Tuesday when a different couple said they had planned to apply for a license but then changed their minds. In a bizarre twist, the couple was urged by the American Civil Liberties Union, which advocates for same-sex marriage, not to get a license because it could hurt the lawsuit the ACLU is pursuing against Pennsylvania.

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A 17-year-old Pennsylvania law recognizes marriages between men and women and does not provide for same-sex marriages or civil unions.

That ACLU legal action is the subject of another bizarre twist, the one in which the attorney general of Pennsylvania Kathleen Kane has said she wonít defend the commonwealth in that lawsuit because she doesnít agree with the law. Kane has been blasted by Pennsylvanians on both sides of the issue and in both political parties for refusing to do her job. Ironically, she formerly criticized an opponent for the top lawyer job for vowing to take a stand on another politically sensitive issue, abortion.

There are now questions as to what happens to Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes for choosing to interpret his job with what some will consider inappropriate leeway. On the county level, Montgomery County Commissioners Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards said publicly they support his actions. Hanes said in granting the licenses (five on Wednesday) he was upholding the constitutional rights of same-sex couples to marry. Thus, he says, he was doing his job.

His counterparts in Pennsylvania see things differently. The Pennsylvania Register of Wills and Clerks of Orphansí Court Association on Wednesday adopted a resolution stating that the associationís members, who are all elected, would continue to follow state law, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman and makes no provisions for same-sex relationships,

Berks County Register of Wills Larry Medaglia said Hanesí actions could be challenged by a civil action brought by the county district attorney.

The hotbed of contradictions landed in Montgomery County 19 days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that failed to guarantee equal benefits to same-sex couples.

The June 26 ruling was a watershed moment for gay and lesbian couples in terms of equality in the federal legal system, but changed little in a practical sense in the 36 states that do not recognize same-sex marriage.

In the three weeks since the ruling, the federal government has begun efforts to extend benefits it controls to married same-sex couples. Challenges to state laws have been filed or are being contemplated.

Now, the swirl of issues surrounding the DOMA decision has come to include a Montgomery County register of wills and a couple who live in Limerick with their two sons, celebrating a marriage today that comes as part of their 18-year relationship.

This national controversy has just become local. Weíre certain it wonít end here.